Cleaning up communities while utilizing underused property
What are Brownfields?
Brownfields are properties that are unused or underused, due to the actual presence, or perceived presence, of contaminants.
The purpose of the Merrimack Valley Brownfields Assessment Program is to eliminate the uncertainty surrounding selected Brownfield sites in the region by identifying what, if any, contaminants are located at a site and determining the cost of cleanup through Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments. The elimination of environmental uncertainty is often the catalyst needed to spur interest from developers for the redevelopment of these sites into productive use, which is the ultimate goal of the program.
In 2009, MVPC won three major grants totaling $1.4 million for investigating and cleaning contaminated industrial and commercial sites for reuse. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a grant of $1 million under the Brownfields Program to establish a revolving loan fund (RLF) for contamination cleanup. MVPC is now able to offer grants and low interest loans for brownfields site cleanup. The agency also granted MVPC $400,000 to continue its program of assessing sites for possible contamination—which funds have allowed MVPC to continue its highly successful Brownfields Assessment Program, dating back to 2003.
Through this program, MVPC has helped many of our member communities conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments on properties known or perceived to be contaminated. These investigations are the critical first step toward returning these underutilized properties to productive reuse.
